St. Simons Island Light

The St. Simons Island Light is a lighthouse in Georgia, United States, on the southern tip of Saint Simons Island, marking the entrance into St. Simons Sound. It uses a 1000-watt electric light to transmit a beam visible for 23 miles (37 kilometers).

Original structure

The original St. Simons Island lighthouse was built in 1810, which was a 75-foot-tall (23 m) early federal octagonal lighthouse topped by a 10-foot (3.0 m) oil-burning lamp. During the American Civil War, U.S. military forces employed a Naval blockade of the coast. An invasion by U.S. troops in 1862 forced Confederate soldiers to abandon the area. The retreating troops destroyed the lighthouse to prevent it from being an aid to the navigation of U.S. warships.

Current structure

The U.S. government built a replacement for the original lighthouse to the west of the first. It is a 104-foot (32 m) structure completed in 1872 and was outfitted with a third-order, biconvex Fresnel lens. A cast iron spiral stairway with 129 steps leads to the top. In 1876 the lighthouse was overhauled. In 1934 the kerosene-burning lamp was replaced by a 1000-watt electrical light. In 1939 the lighthouse was placed under the jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard. About 1953 the lighthouse was fully automated. The tower underwent restoration in 1989-91 and again in 1997-98. In 2004, ownership of the lighthouse was transferred to the Coastal Georgia Historical Society under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act.

As of 2008 the lighthouse is still in use. The lighthouse keeper's residence has been turned into a museum and the public can go up to the top of the lighthouse.

Having an operational Fresnel lens is a relative rarity. The Fresnel lens is still operative, being one of only 70 such lenses that remain operational in the United States. Sixteen of those are in use on the Great Lakes of which eight are in Michigan.

The light is picturesque, and is the subject of paintings and other artistic renderings.

Notes

Further reading

  • Jones, Ray, (1988) Southeastern Lighthouses.
  • McCarthy, Kevin (1988) Georgia's Lighthouses and Historic Coastal Sites.
  • Sullivan, Buddy, The Lighthouses of Georgia, The Keeper's Log, Spring 1988.

External links

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Tips & Hints
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Morgan Watson
7 July 2015
Beautiful view from the top but lots of stairs to get there!
Sonja Strongarm
28 August 2014
A real working lighthouse; very cool in the evening; nice park nearby.
Explore Georgia
27 November 2012
Unlike many other operational lights, visitors are welcome to climb the 129 steps to the top.
Carol Morgan
31 May 2013
This is the third most haunted lighthouse in the country. It all started with a dispute over a woman. Take the ghost tour for the whole story.
Edie Sutton
9 June 2016
Wonderful to step back in time and learn more about our coastal history.
Charles Tucker
17 June 2012
If you like ghost stories then take the haunted tour of Saint Simons Island!
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Map
101 12th St, Saint Simons Island, GA 31522, USA Get directions
Fri 11:00 AM–9:00 PM
Sat 9:00 AM–10:00 PM
Sun 10:00 AM–9:00 PM
Mon 10:00 AM–5:00 PM
Tue 10:00 AM–11:00 AM
Wed 10:00 AM–8:00 PM

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